JPS61106257A - Electronic equipment with printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit a speedly replacing of a head unit with a simple operation by providing a containing means to store subrecording heads for a reserved purpose or replacing of recording colors. CONSTITUTION:Ink jet recording head units are mounted on a recording portion of a table electronic calculator body CA, and at the same time, these are contained in the containing portions SP1 and SP2 that are provided in the right, front side of the body. In the containing portions SP1 and SP2, recording head units other than the head mounted in the recording portions of the calculator, for instances, head units with ink of different colors or spare head units are stored. Pressure contact connectors are provided in the positions corresponding to electrodes within the containing portions SP1 and SP2, and by connecting these pressure contact connectors and the electrodes the recording head units that contain ink for spare or of different colors may be driven as desired.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to an electronic device equipped with a printing device, and particularly to an electronic device equipped with a printing device equipped with a replaceable inkjet recording head unit.

[Prior Art] In recent years, inkjet recording devices have become popular as recording output devices for various electronic devices such as computer systems and word processors. In particular, small electronic devices such as calculators have been developed that are equipped with inkjet recording devices and record calculation results on recording media such as recording paper.

In order to downsize the mechanism or simplify operation, small electronic devices such as calculators are equipped with replaceable inkjet recording heads that integrate an ink jetting means and an ink tank. An apparatus is known that is provided with a so-called disposable inkjet recording head unit that can be replaced with a new head unit when the inkjet recording head unit is replaced with a new one.

In conventional small electronic devices of this type, the recording section has one
Since the printer was equipped with only two inkjet recording head units, there was a drawback that if the user did not have a new head unit and the recording head ran out of ink, he would be unable to perform recording.

In addition, in the method using replaceable inkjet recording heads as described above, since the recording head can be replaced with the ink tank, it is possible to print in the color of your choice. In this case, the user must always carry an inkjet recording head unit of a different color along with the main body of the electronic device, which is very inconvenient.

[Purpose] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and eliminates the need for the user to carry multiple spare inkjet recording head units for different colors, and allows the user to easily operate the inkjet recording head units. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an electronic device with an easy-to-operate printing device that allows the inkjet recording head unit to be replaced as necessary.

['Embodiments] The present invention will be described in detail below based on embodiments shown in the drawings. However, below, an example of a calculator with a printing device will be exemplified as an example of an electronic device with a printing device.

FIG. 1 shows an overall perspective view of a calculator with a printing device to which the present invention is applied. In addition to the keyboard section, a display D consisting of an LCD or LED for displaying calculation results or input results is provided on the surface of the main body CA. A recording device using a replaceable inkjet recording head is housed in these keyboard sections and in front of the display D, and FIG. 1 only shows the recording paper TS used for recording.

Here, FIG. 2 shows an exploded perspective view of the replaceable inkjet recording head unit TJH used in this embodiment. What is indicated by the symbol TC in FIG. It is integrally formed on the surface of BP. That is, the surface of the substrate BP is provided with an electrode DC and a predetermined number of dots, for example, 7.
Dot heating elements are integrally formed. In FIG. 2, the heating elements are hidden by a metal piece O, and this metal piece 0 is provided with ink ejection holes for seven dots at positions corresponding to each heating element.

The Herad tip TC is fixed to the pen body FB, and an ink tank B filled with ink of a predetermined color is fixed to the rear of the pen body FB. That is, the pen body PB serves as a support for the Herad tip TC and also serves as a lid for the ink tank B. Furthermore, a case C provided with a handle for easy attachment and detachment is fixed to the rear of the pen body FB, thereby forming one recording head unit.

By applying a driving current to the electrode DC of the above Herad tip TC, the ink supplied from the ink tank B via the pen body FB is boiled by the heating element of the head tip TC and jetted from the corresponding ejection hole of the metal piece O. Then, recording is performed on the recording paper TS shown in FIG.

The inkjet recording head unit shown in FIG. 2 is mounted in the recording section of the calculator main body CA shown in FIG. It is stored in sections SPI and SF3. The housing units SPI and SF3 house a recording head unit other than the head mounted on the recording section of the calculator, such as a head unit filled with ink of a different color or a spare head unit. Storage section SPL, SF
3 has a press-contact connector at a position corresponding to the electrode DC in FIG. It can be driven at any time.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of the control circuit of the calculator shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 3, the reference numeral indicates a keyboard section, which is connected to a key manual control section. Operations performed via the keyboard section K are sent as key signals to the key control section I, and signals corresponding to the operated keys are sent to the data bus DB.

An arithmetic control unit U is connected to the data bus DB, and the arithmetic control unit U performs operations such as addition and subtraction, four sub-operations such as multiplication and division, or other functional calculations by operating any part of the keyboard. , outputs the calculation results for display on the connected display D, or performs control operations for driving the recording section, which will be described later.

Furthermore, a memory A consisting of a random access memory is connected to the data bus DB, and input numerical data, calculation results, memory data, etc. are stored in this memory A. In addition to this memory A, there is another memory R composed of a read-only memory, etc., and this memory R stores a control program for performing arithmetic control or output control, as well as recording head control according to the present invention. The arithmetic control unit U performs various controls in accordance with the programs stored in the memory R.

The arithmetic control unit U controls three output control circuits 01, 02, and 03 via a data bus DB.

The control circuit 01 controls the motor M of the recording section TJP via the drive circuit MD. A motor M is a motor for causing the recording head unit to scan in the horizontal direction on the recording paper.

The control circuit 02 is for driving the rad TJHI to the inkjet recording mounted on the recording unit TJP via the drive circuit TDI. Communication between the drive circuit TDI and the inkjet recording head TJHI is performed via a press-contact connector CNI.

In the present invention, the storage section S is further controlled by the control circuit o3.
It is also possible to control the operations of the inkjet recording head units TJH2 and TJH3 housed in the PI and SF3. That is, the control circuit o3 is the drive circuit T.
D2. Spare inkjet recording head TJH2 is connected via TD3 and pressure connectors CN2 and CN3, respectively.
, and TJH3, respectively, and are housed in the storage units SPI and SP2 under the control of the arithmetic control unit U.
3 is drive-controlled.

Note that in the above configuration, the drive circuits MD, TD1 to
Each of the TDs 3 is a circuit composed of a known amplifier or the like that converts a logic level signal into a current or voltage level capable of driving and controlling each operating member.

Next, FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of the control operation of the arithmetic control unit U according to the present invention. The control procedure shown in FIG. 4 is stored in the memory R as a part of the program.

When the power switch of the keyboard unit is turned on and the power is turned on in step SL of FIG. 4, the process proceeds to step S2, and the arithmetic and control unit U outputs 64 pixels to the control circuit o2 for each dot of each heating element. A signal is given to eject ink twice.

This operation is a so-called idle ejection operation that is performed to remove dust or bubbles clogging the ink ejection holes prior to the recording operation.

Subsequently, in step S3, the same command as in step S2 is outputted to the control circuit 03. This allows drive circuits TD 2 , TD 3 and connector CN
2 and CN3, the spare inkjet recording head units T'JH2 and TJH3 are driven simultaneously to perform the same idle ejection operation as described above.

Subsequently, in steps S4 and 35, a command to drive the motor M is given to the control circuit 01, and the character rcL is sent to the control circuit 01.
The print data corresponding to EARJ is sent to the control circuit 02 to record the character rcLEARJ on the recording paper TS. That is, a so-called "bankruptcy" is recorded and output on the recording paper TS.

It goes without saying that along with the above operations, although not carried out here, the reset of memories, registers, etc. for various calculations is carried out in accordance with procedures similar to those known in the art.

Subsequently, in step S6, it is determined whether any key on the keyboard section has been operated. This determination is made by sending a signal from the input control unit and determining whether or not a flag has been set in a predetermined area of the arithmetic control unit U or memory A in response to the signal. If a key operation has been performed, various calculation processes corresponding to the key operation are performed in step S7, and if no key operation has been performed, display processing is performed in step S8.

It is assumed that the processing time of steps 37 and 58 is set to about 0.5 seconds depending on the machine cycle of the arithmetic control unit U and the like.

Subsequently, in step S9, a counter N for measuring time is incremented by "1". It is assumed that this counter is set in a predetermined area of the arithmetic control unit U or memory A.

Subsequently, in step SIO, it is determined whether the content of the counter N has reached 7200 or not. The content is 72
If it has not reached 00, the process returns to step S6 and repeats the above operation. That is, assuming that the operation in step S7.38 is performed in about 0.5 seconds, the time is 1 hour (3600 seconds = Q, 5X7200). The operations of steps 56 to 510 are repeated until .times. has elapsed.

On the other hand, if various calculations or display processing are performed continuously for one hour, step 510 is affirmed, so step 311
to move to.

In step Sll, a signal for driving each dot of the recording head 64 times is output to the control circuit 03.

As a result, the storage section S
Inkjet R head unit/tots TJH2 and TJH3 stored in PI and SF3 perform idle ejection. After this, in step S12, the time counter N
is cleared and the process returns to step S6.

According to the embodiments described above, in addition to the main recording head, a spare head unit or a head unit for changing the recording color can be stored in the calculator body, so there is no need to worry about inadvertently running out of ink or Even if it becomes necessary to change the recording color, the desired recording operation can be reliably performed by immediately replacing the head unit in the storage section and the unit in the recording section.

In addition, since the head unit stored in the storage section is automatically blank-discharged at regular intervals, even if the head unit is left stored in the storage section, the ink ejection holes will not become clogged and can be replaced. After that, normal recording operation can be performed immediately.

In the above embodiment, the idle ejection interval of the recording head unit stored in the storage section was set to one hour, but it goes without saying that it can be changed to another time by changing the number set in the determination step of the counter N.

Further, in the above embodiment, an inkjet recording head using a heat generating element was exemplified, but it goes without saying that other types of recording heads can be used as a replaceable recording head unit.

[Effects] As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, since a configuration is adopted in which a storage means is provided for storing the RAD unit, ) in the sub-recording for preliminary or recording color change, it is possible to use ink. It is possible to provide an excellent electronic device with a printing device that allows the head unit to be quickly replaced by a simple operation when the print color is broken or when it is necessary to change the recorded color.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing the configuration of a calculator with a printing device as an example of an electronic device employing the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of an ink shed recording head unit used in the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control circuit of the calculator shown in the figure, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the arithmetic control section of FIG. CA...Calculator body K...Keyboard part D.
...Display SPI, SF3...Storage section TC...Head chip U...Arithmetic control section TJH
I~TJH3...Inkjet recording head unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An electronic device with a printing device equipped with a replaceable inkjet recording head unit, characterized in that an electronic device with a printing device is provided with storage means for a spare inkjet recording head unit. (2) The electronic device with a printing device according to claim 1, further comprising means for periodically driving a spare inkjet recording head unit stored in the storage means.